To think it’s very bleak to be saving this and getting absolutely nowhere? What’s the point?

[Wehah]

I don’t know if I’m being overly sensitive as I am a single parent (with maintenance as people seem to ask that on here!). But I can’t ever seem to get ahead financially. I have been fortunate to save 1,500 a month for the last year or so. I thought this was going to be great as it would get a good savings buffer going and me and dd could even go abroad perhaps and I could start to add to her savings too. I was looking forward to having 10k in the bank as a safety net and then a little extra to save elsewhere.

But no… what’s actually happened is 3k on a boiler… I know that’s more like a one off cost but it doesn’t stop there. I needed two trees removed which cost 1k, I had a huge energy bill from December which has wiped out 400 of this months savings already. I had to pay for extensive dental treatment with a root canal as I couldn’t get it on the nhs. Then finally I had to pay over 90 more for car insurance (no explanation as to why and despite calling round many many many places to get it cheaper).

The reality is that I am getting nowhere with savings. It will take me forever to save won’t it? What’s actually the point? I will never be able to save more than 1,500 which to be honest I thought was a huge amount! But perhaps I am very wrong about this. How do people get financially secure? I’m nearly 40 now and can’t actually believe I have this much money to set aside and it’s going nowhere. I just want to give up and the future feels so uncertain.

Thank you 😊

S&P500 has gone up 23% this last year which is phenomenal. Usually only goes up 11% on average per year but as you say can go up and down.

sadly I don’t have much in it, but I’ll be looking to add to my holding on pull backs through this year.

I’ll also have a look at this one you mentioned. Thanks again

Most people aren't financially secure. Many people are in much worse financial situations than you. You are in a good position financially if you can afford to save £1500 a month, even if you have had to spend some of it on unexpected emergencies. If you hadn't saved this money, you would have needed to borrow the money to pay for a new boiler and to have the trees cut down which would have cost you much more due to paying interest.

How has OP been 'shafted' by corrupt government and freeloaders? Did they break her boiler?

You did well to save enough to cover these contingencies - which is what savings are for.

At the rate you’re going, you’ll be up to 60k in not much longer than 3 years. You can pay a block of your mortgage and save yourself a load of interest. Maybe split the payment into different “pots” £500 for long term (pay off mortgage etc), £500 for unexpected big expenses like boilers, trees, dentist etc and £500 for a holiday and other fun things. You can definitely have a lovely holiday abroad for 3k for 2 of you. Any leftover money can go into the long term pot.

I assume you also have a work pension and are on track with state pension.

I get its frustrating to spend your hard worked for savings on boring stuff like a new boiler. But that’s an investment into your property too. It should be more efficient.

In 5 to 10 years your discipline and savings could make you so much wealthier. I don’t think it’s pointless at all.

This post smacks of a humblebrag. You’re saving £18,000 a YEAR and claiming you’re not getting anywhere?! Even if you have to then take ~£5k a year out for unexpected expenses, you’ll still meet your £60k target in about 4 years.
About 25% of UK adults have less than £1000 in savings. You’re saving more than someone on minimum wage earns.
Get a grip!

Op if you do have that much available for savings every month and your main priority is mortgage related, why not look to overpaying your mortgage by a chunk every month. You'll pay it off so much quicker and may not need to take a break from paying it.

£1500 a month is an amazing amount to save.
I think you need to consider what your financial situation would be now if you hadn't already saved that money and been able to easily pay for the boiler and other expenses. You're in a good position.
For context, my husband and I saved up around £60k but it took us about 4 years pre kids, and we lived very very frugally during that time, it also overlapped with covid (limited opportunity to spend but we both continued working) and a big salary increase for my husband in the 3rd year of our savings.
It is demoralising seeing your savings go down, but some years are just worse than others. We had to replace our boiler and do a roof repair back to back, first time we'd dipped into our savings for years but it was almost £10k.
The reality is that being able to put that amount of money into savings means you are financially secure even if the progress feels slow.

What's 60000 divided by 18000? 3.333333333333333333333333... That's 3.33333333333333333333333 years to reach the goal. The very snails would weep at the slowness of pace. The boiler might have added how many 3s behind the decimal to that elongated period of painful waiting? A holiday would surely play havoc.

I feel you, @weeha. I am in the same boat really as a lone parent (also with some maintenance), and it is really hard to get ahead. Especially with the COL crisis.

What people often don't realise is that the household costs arent that different to run a home as one parent only (apart from the 25% council tax discount) but with only one income coming in, so it really can feel like being on a financial hamster wheel. Couples and families often have two incomes coming in for the same home, which mitigates issues slightly if there are boiler breakdowns, etc.

I am renting rather than owning so our experiences differ there but I've just been paid 2k for a freelance job today (a month's worth of work) and its almost all gone again now in the same morning ... hmrc tax payment, food shopping, credit card bill, etc. It is so dispiriting. And without a second income, it is like trying to stay afloat when there's a hole in the boat.

Sending you solidarity and hope it all improves one day.